Ice cube tray or the like

ABSTRACT

An ice cube tray which is adapted to be stacked in superimposed relation with one or more additional similar trays, and which is specially constructed so that, in one relative orientation of the trays the upper tray can nest downwardly into the ice forming cavities in the lower tray in a manner allowing stacking of a large number of the trays together in a relatively small space for shipment or storage, whereas in another relative orientation an upper tray is supported on the lower tray at a higher level relative thereto, to leave the ice forming cavities of the lower tray sufficiently open and accessible for freezing of ice therein.

United States Patent n 1 3,685,785 Brown [451 Aug. 22, 1972 ICE CUBE TRAY OR THE LIKE 2,774,51 1 12/1956 Menkin et al ..220/97 D [72] Inventor: G d R. Brown, La Puente, Calif 1,900,290 3/1933 KLIdO "249/1 22 X Assigneei All-Power Manufacturing Primary Examiner-J. Spencer Overholser tebello, Callf- Assistant Examiner Dewalden W. Jones 22 Filed; May 21, 7 Attorney-William P. Green 21 Appl. No.: 39,454

[ ABSTRACT An icecube tray which is adapted to be stacked in su- [52] US. Cl ..249/ 129, 99/ 192, 220/97 D, perimposed relation i one or more d i [51] Int Cl similar trays, and which is specially constructed so o n t t i t [58] new of l 0 tray can nest downwardly into the ice forming cavities 7 331 in the lower tray in a manner allowing stacking of a l large number of the trays together in a relatively small space for, shipment or storage, whereas in another [56] References C'ted relative orientation an upper tray is supported on the UNTTED STATES PATENTS lgwer trtay at a higher levte l trlelzlative theretqfito leave t 6 Ice ormmg cavities o t e ower tray su lcient y 3,197,058 7/1965 Hale ..220/9.7 D X 3,021,695 2,1962 Voigtmann "249/127 open and accessible. for freezing of 106 therein. 2,537,915 l/l95 l Roop ..249/l27 X 7 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 25 l Q4 13 1Q 2b :4 :27 as I L" "-lllll lllllll 73 2 [9&5 #5

ICE CUBE TRAY OR THE LIKE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in trays for molding or shaping a number of bodies of a desired substance. For simplicity of disclosure, the invention will be described primarily as applied to the construction of ice cube trays, though it will be apparent that some aspects of the invention are applicable also to the molding of other substances.

Conventional ice cube trays are not usually designed to nest one within the other during shipment or storage, and therefore they inherently occupy an excessive amount of space during such storage, and are relatively inconvenient to both ship and store. Many of these trays also have the added disadvantage that they can not be elfectively stacked one upon another in use, during an ice making operation, but rather each must usually be placed on a separate shelf in a specially formed ice making area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a highly unique type of ice cube tray or the like which allows both nesting of the trays in handling and stacking of the trays one upon the other in use. Specifically, trays embodying the invention are so constructed that one may be stacked on another in two different relative orientations. In the first of these orientations, the upper tray nests relatively deeply into the lower tray so that the two together may occupy a minimum of space for storage or shipment, while in the second orientation the upper tray is supported on the lower tray at a higher level, in a manner leaving the ice forming cavities of the lower tray open for reception of water and formation of ice.

To achieve these results, the trays have supporting portions which engage an adjacent tray differently in the two mentioned orientations to support adjacent trays in a stack at difi'erent levels relative to one another in those two orientations. Each tray may have projections at predetermined locations and apertures at other locations, so positioned that the projections of one tray can extend into and through the apertures in another tray in one orientation, to allow deep internesting of the two trays, but can not project through the apertures in another relative orientation to thus support an upper tray at a higher level relative to a lower tray.

The trays desirably are so formed as to have posts or projections extending upwardly within the individual ice forming cavities of the tray, to form cubes which have openings or recesses at their centers facilitating melting in use, and thereby improving the cooling effectiveness of the cubes. These posts or projections within the cube forming compartments are preferably employed as part of the supporting structure by which an upper tray is supported on a lower tray in a stack. Some of these posts may contain the previously mentioned tray supporting projections, while others of the posts have the mentioned apertures formed at their upper ends, all arranged in a proper pattern to achieve support of the upper tray at two different levels in the two different relative orientations of the trays, as discussed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The above and other features and objects of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the typical embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice cube tray formed in accordance with the invention, and showing a portion of a second identical tray stacked on the first y;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the trays of FIG. 1 shown in inverted condition to reveal the support projections at its underside;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the two stacked trays of FIG. 1, and taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a reduced bottom plan view of the two stacked trays of FIG. 3, taken on line 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a transverse vertical section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but showing the upper tray in reversed position or orientation relative to the lower tray, to allow a deeper nesting of the trays together;

FIG. 7 is a transverse section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6; and,

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view similar to FIG. 4, but v taken on line 88 of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1, I have shown at 10 an elongated generally rectangular ice cube tray formed in accordance with the invention. This tray is preferably molded as a single unitary body of an appropriate resinous plastic material, such as polyethylene. The body is shaped to form a number of pairs of identical recesses or compartments 11 within which the ice cubes are to be frozen. In this connection, it is noted that in the particular preferred arrangement illustrated typically in the drawing, the cubes are not actually cubical in shape, but rather are preferably circular in horizontal section. The term cubes is therefore not to be understood as used in a limiting sense in the present application, but rather with its common and well understood connotation which includes molded bodies of ice to be used for beverage purposes and having any desired shape.

The tray 10 has an upper horizontal planar wall 12 which is of essentially rectangular horizontal-section, and which has an upstanding peripheral flange 13 extending entirely thereabout to prevent water from spilling out of the tray and off the top wall 12 unless the water reaches a level above the top horizontal edge 14 of flange 13. A similar flange 15 may project downwardly about the periphery of top wall 12, to assist the upstanding flange 13 in strengthening and stiffening the entire'structure. At opposite ends of the tray, two flanges l3 and 15 may be beveled inwardly to a certain extent as illustrated at 16 in FIG. 1.

At the locations of the various ice forming cavities or compartments 11, the top wall 12 of the tray contains circular openings 17, at each of which the material of the tray body extends downwardly to form an annular downwardly tapering frustoconical side wall 18 of a cup structure 19 which contains and defines one of the cavities 11. At thebottom of each of these cup structures, the material of the tray forms a horizontally intumed annular bottom wall 20 of the cup, which merges with and carries at its inner edge an upwardly projecting post or projection 21 located centrally within cavity 11. This projection 21 has an upwardly tapering .frustoconical side wall 22 terminating in a, horizontal top wall 23 projecting above the level of the main upper wall 12 of the cube tray. Preferably, top

wall 23 of each of the posts 21 lies in essentially the same horizontal plane 24 as the upper edge 14 of the upstanding peripheral rib 13. The circular cups 19 are centered about individual vertical axes 25, which are parallel to one another and perpendicular to'the plane of top wall 12 of the tray. More particularly, the

downwardly tapering sidewall 18 of each cup and the upwardly tapering wall 22 of each center post 21 are both centered about the same vertical axis'25, and both desirably taper at the same angle a relative to that axis, though of course'in different directions. Desirably, this angle of taper a is between about 5 and 9, and for best results about 7 in order to, allowtheir optimum nesting of two of the trays in their fullynested condition.

' As seen best in FIG. 3,-some of the topwalls 23 of the central posts in the difi'erent cavities 11 contain circular openings 26, while others of the top walls 23 of different ones of the center posts integrally carry downwardly .extending cylindrical projections 27 located within the interior of the associated center posts. These projections 27 are small enough to be received within corresponding ones of the openings 26 of another identical tray in a manner .to be discussed at a later point. The projecn'ons 27 extend directly vertically along the corresponding one of the axis 25, and may terminate downwardly at a lower extremity 28 lying in a plane just slightly above the plane in which the undersurface of bottom walls of the various cups lie.

In FIG. 3, there are illustrated two identical trays 10, one of which is stacked directly above the other, with corresponding pairs of the cups 19 of the upper tray being received directly above and in axial alignmentwith the same pairs of cups of the lower tray. In the FIG. 3 orientation of the trays, the previously mentioned apertures 26 are'formed in the left hand pair of center posts 21 of each of the trays, and in the next to the right hand pair of center posts, that is, in the center posts designated 21a and 21b in FIG. 1. The projections 27 are provided within the right hand pair of posts of each tray in FIG. 3, and within the next to left hand,

posts. Specifically, these are the posts designated 21c and 21d in FIG. 1. The center posts 21 within the two central pairs of cups or cavities do not have eitheran aperture 26 or a projection 27.

I To now describethe manner of use of the described trays, assume first of all that two of the trays are to be used in stacked relation for simultaneously freezing cubes in their various cavities 11. To attain this result, water is. first filled into all of the cavities 11 of a lower one of the trays, typically up to the level designated 29 in FIG. 3, following which the cavitiesin the next tray 3 are filled to acorresponding level 29a, and the upper tray is then stacked on the lower tray in the relationship illustrated in FIG. 3. In that conditiQn, the projections tray, and project downwardly therethrough, so that the 27 of the upper tray are directly above the projections 27 of the lower tray, so that the lower extremities 28 of the projections 27 of the upper tray engage the upper imperforate top walls 23 of the corresponding posts 21 of the lower tray to support the upper tray in the position illustrated in FIG. 3. In this condition, the lower extremities of the cups of the upper tray do not project downwardly far enough to contact the water in the cups of the lower tray, and therefore they do not interfere with the formation of ice in the lower tray. It is also noted that in this. condition, the lower portions ,of the.

side walls 22 of the center posts 21 of the top tray extend downwardly past the upper extremities of the corresponding center posts in the lower tray, to ,interfit therewith as illustrated at 30 in FIG. 3, in a manner effectively locating the upper tray, against unwanted lateral displacement from the desired properly stacked orientation relative to the lower tray. Thus, the slight interfitting relationship of the center. posts of the upper and lower trays keeps the two trays in properly stacked relation,- and with one tray directly above the other. Similarly, a series of additional identical trays may be superimposed on the'two illustrated in FIG. 3, to-pro-' vide a stack of as many trays as may be desired for simultaneously freezing cubes in all of the trays, in a minimum of space and without the necessity for providing separate shelves for each of the trays to rest on.

When it is desired to store a number of thetrays in as small a space as possible, such as during shipment, the

upper tray of FIG. 3 may be turned through about the vertical axis 31 of FIG. 3 to the changed orientation of FIG. 6, in which theupper tray maynest more I deeply into the lower tray. In that FIG. 6 orientation, the two projections 27 of the upper tray which were initially at the right end of the upper tray as seen in FIG. 3 are now located above two of the apertures 26 formed in the center posts of the left hand cavities of the lower tray, and can project downwardly through those apertures. Similarly, the projections 27 located near the left end of the upper tray in' FIG. 3 are now received above the apertures formed near the right end of the lower trays nest together until the tapered sidewalls 18 and 22 of the cups and center posts of the'upper tray engage and are supported by the corresponding tapered walls of the cups of the lower. tray. As in the first condition, a series of the trays may be nested together in this relation to form as high a stack as may be desired for I shipping or storage.

While a certain specific embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed as typical, the invention-is of course not limited to this particular form, but rather is applicable broadly to all such variations as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

The polyethylene or other material from which the by forced bending or distortion'of the with said cavities of both trays facing upwardly in both of said orientations; said tray being constructed to support the upper of two such trays, when in one orientation, at a first level high enough to allow formation of molded bodies in the cavities of the lower tray; but to support the upper tray when in the second orientation at a second and lower level nested more deeply into the lower tray, said cavities containing hollow posts which extend upwardly within individual cavities and form openings in said molded bodies, some of said posts containing projections which project downwardly therein and are engageable downwardly against said posts of a lower tray to support the upper tray at said first level, some of said posts containing openings through which said projections can extend downwardly in said second orientation to allow nesting at said second level.

2. A tray as recited in claim 1, in which said hollow posts contain downwardly opening recesses within which said projections are received and which continue downwardly slightly beyond the lower extremities of the projections.

3. A tray as recited in claim 1, in which said tray is elongated and contains a series of pairs of said cavities and is turned through 180 about a vertical axis of said orientations; said tray being constructed to support the upper of two such trays, when in one orientation, at a first level high enough to allow formation of molded, bodies in the cavities of the lower tray; but to support the upper tray when in the second orientation at a second and lower level nested more deeply into the lower tray, said tray having a generally. horizontal upper wall extending about said cavities, and forming a plurality of cups projecting downwardly from said upper wall and containing said cavities, said cups having downwardly tapering sidewalls and annular bottom walls and having upstanding hollow upwardly tapering posts projecting upwardly from said bottom walls within the cups, some of said posts having top walls and other containing openings, some of said posts containing projections extending downwardly from said top walls of the posts and adapted in said first orientation to engage the posts of another tray to support an upper tray at said first level, but in said second orientation to pass through said openings of the other tray to allow deeper nesting of the trays.

5. A tray as recited in claim 4, in which said trays are elongated and are turned through 1 about a vertical .axis between said two orientations, said posts projecting upwardly slightly beyond the level of said upper 4 A tray as recited in claim 6, in which said upper wall has a peripheral flange projecting upwardly thereabout to approximately the level of the upper extremities of said posts. 

1. A tray containing a series of molding cavities and constructed to enable stacking of one such tray on another in either of two different relative orientations with said cavities of both trays facing upwardly in both of said orientations; said tray being constructed to support the upper of two such trays, when in one orientation, at a first level high enough to allow formation of molded bodies in the cavities of the lower tray; but to support the upper tray when in the second orientation at a second and lower level nested more deeply into the lower tray, said cavities containing hollow posts which extend upwardly within individual cavities and form openings in said molded bodies, some of said posts containing projections which project downwardly therein and are engageable downwardly against said posts of a lower tray to support the upper tray at said first level, some of said posts containing openings through which said projections can extend downwardly in said second orientation to allow nesting at said second level.
 2. A tray as recited in claim 1, in which said hollow posts contain downwardly opening recesses within which said projections are received and which continue downwardly slightly beyond the lower extremities of the projections.
 3. A tray as recited in claim 1, in which said tray is elongated and contains a series of pairs of said cavities and is turned through 180* about a vertical axis between said two orientations, one of said pairs of cavities at a first end of the tray having said projections while the next successive pair contains said openings, an end pair at the opposite end of the tray containing said openings while the next successive Pair has said projections.
 4. A tray containing a series of molding cavities and constructed to enable stacking of one such tray on another in either of two different relative orientations with said cavities of both trays facing upwardly in both of said orientations; said tray being constructed to support the upper of two such trays, when in one orientation, at a first level high enough to allow formation of molded bodies in the cavities of the lower tray; but to support the upper tray when in the second orientation at a second and lower level nested more deeply into the lower tray, said tray having a generally horizontal upper wall extending about said cavities, and forming a plurality of cups projecting downwardly from said upper wall and containing said cavities, said cups having downwardly tapering sidewalls and annular bottom walls and having upstanding hollow upwardly tapering posts projecting upwardly from said bottom walls within the cups, some of said posts having top walls and others containing openings, some of said posts containing projections extending downwardly from said top walls of the posts and adapted in said first orientation to engage the posts of another tray to support an upper tray at said first level, but in said second orientation to pass through said openings of the other tray to allow deeper nesting of the trays.
 5. A tray as recited in claim 4, in which said trays are elongated and are turned through 180* about a vertical axis between said two orientations, said posts projecting upwardly slightly beyond the level of said upper wall.
 6. A tray as recited in claim 5, in which said posts contain recesses extending upwardly therein and whose lower ends terminate beneath the lower ends of said projections.
 7. A tray as recited in claim 6, in which said upper wall has a peripheral flange projecting upwardly thereabout to approximately the level of the upper extremities of said posts. 